Each year at Christmastime, I enjoy making handprint crafts with my children. It’s fun to reflect back on our growing family every year when we unpack the decorations. This year, I used this classic salt dough recipe to make a handprint Christmas tree. A warning – the cutouts need to be baked for four hours, so make sure you leave enough time in the day to complete the first step.
The inspiration for this craft came from Pinterest. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Gather up the following ingredients to make these happy keepsakes:
Mix all together in a bowl until combined, then knead the salt dough for about five minutes. Roll the dough out to about 1/3 inch thickness. Carefully press handprints into the dough, taking care not to make the dough too thin in any spots. Next, use the drinking straw to create a hole in the palm. This will be used for hanging the handprint. Carefully cutout and transfer each handprint to a lightly-floured cookie sheet.
Bake the handprints for two hours, flip them over on the cookie sheets, and continue baking for another two hours. Allow the handprints to cool completely before being painted. We left ours overnight before decorating them.
Lay down a vinyl tablecloth or newsprint to protect your work surface. Lay out a variety of acrylic paints and paintbrushes. We painted our handprints alternating dark and light green colors. You will need to apply at least two coats of paint.
Finally, add any little details you’d like on your handprints. Like the example seen on Pinterest, we added “lights” and “snowflakes” to ours.
I will stack these in order from largest to smallest, and display them using an ornament stand like this one from Amazon. Happily, my daughter made a yellow star ornament, which I think looks lovely at the top of our “tree.”
Jackie Baird Richardson is an interior designer, editor at The WON and avid junker. Watch for her design tips and occasional crafting ideas, bringing the outdoors indoors. View all posts by Jackie Richardson
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